In This Life
by LoveforPenandDerek
Summary: JJ finds herself in a compromised position with legendary profiler and lothario David Rossi. Short story series. Multiple pairings.
1. Unavoidable Confrontation, HotchPrentiss

**In This Life**- This is a short story series that will include many different pairings. Basically any pairing I get the inclination to write about, except Morgan/Garcia or Reid based pairings because I have other short stories and longer stories about those characters. In this series you very well could find stories, depending on what my muse does, about:

Rossi/Garcia

Hotch/Garcia

Morgan/Reid

Hotch/JJ

Hotch/Prentiss

Rossi/Strauss

Others to be determined.

Review if you enjoy the short story because that will help to guide me toward what pairings to explore more and which ones aren't as popular. Each story in this is unrelated in anyway to the next story posted in this series, unless otherwise noted.

**The Unavoidable Confrontation**

**Hotch and Prentiss**

**June 2010**

He was a too smart of a man to deny to himself what he was feeling at that particular moment.

No matter that he had spent years downplaying his attraction for her, shoving it back into a dark corner of his mind where it wouldn't rear its ugly head and affect his well ordered life too terribly severely, it was undeniable that seeing her across the restaurant on a date with another federal agent had flared to life a raw, deep seated, bitter and painful jealous streak he had over this woman.

No matter how good he was at controlling his emotions for that moment in time he could not stop the flood of feelings that washed through him. Even though he knew perfectly well that it wasn't right to feel this way about her.

As his employee, a valuable member of his team of profilers, Emily Prentiss should be off limits to Hotch. His head knew that. They could not have a romantic relationship. He certainly didn't fantasize about them running off to live some happily ever after life in a cottage in the woods far away from unsubs. He was much too realistic for that.

Usually so evenhanded and cool headed he didn't let himself express too many emotions in most circumstances. He tried to not let himself lose himself in emotions internally either. It was his natural inclination at most times to try to stay above the fray. Sometimes he hated that about himself. He knew it was the way his father had behaved all of Hotch's childhood. Closed down, shuttered, emotions kept so tightly guarded it would seem at first look he had no emotions at all.

It was all a self protection measure.

Tonight there was no way for Hotch to keep himself distanced from his messy and inconvenient feelings for Emily. The moment he noticed the maitre d bringing her and her date to their table, Hotch's eyes had locked on her and jealousy flared through his whole being. He took in the sexy black dress she wore, the subtle and elegant jewelry, how her hair was slightly curled.

He took it all in and hated the fact she was looking so damn good all with the desire to seduce another man. Unable to bear looking at her- as Emily smiled and chuckled at something SSA Mick Rawson had said- Hotch's eyes fell back to the linen covered table.

His lips thinned in a grimace.

His brother, Sean, who was in town for the weekend and wanted to try this five star restaurant because Sean was a chef and food connoisseur, noticed how Hotch's attention had briefly been diverted across the room. Sean looked over his shoulder and looked around.

"Did you see someone you know or something?"

"An employee."

"You should go say hi."

"I will when we leave."

"Why do you look like someone just ran over your dog?"

"Sean, leave it alone. Anyway, you were telling me about the James Beard nominee you received. Is that prestigious?"

Sean teased Hotch "My big brother has a crush on his employee."

Hotch's eyes narrowed and he gave his brother a stern look.

Why was it that his family always could get to him worse than anyone else? He couldn't keep unemotional around family. He couldn't stay detached. They knew him in ways no one else ever could and they saw underneath his cool exterior.

Sean went on "You should go for her. You could use a little life in your life."

"Weren't we discussing your career and not my life?"

"If you call it a life. You work a million hours a week and barely crack a smile once a year."

"There isn't a lot to smile about when you see what I do each day. But, be that as it may, I do, in fact, smile regulary. Jack makes me smile almost everyday with the things he says or does. What would not make me smile is being fired for having an inappropriate sexual relationship in the workplace. Prentiss is my subordinate and that means-"

"Prentiss, huh? Which one is that? You know I'm not good with remembering names." Sean looked around again. "Is she the sexy schoolteacher looking blonde? Or the redhead with the great tit-"

Hotch cleared his throat. "Don't worry about it."

Sean's eyes landed on Emily. "Oh, there she is. The brunette. Those are my favorite too. Looks like we go for the same type of woman, big bro. Who would have thunk it? Considering I'm so much cooler than you could ever hope to be. So are you seriously never gonna make a move on this woman? You sure didn't look too happy when you spotted her with that other guy. Are they engaged or something?"

"I'm going to order the creme brulee for dessert."

Sean chuckled. "Fine. I'm backing off but if you don't make a move on someone at some point you'll never get on with your life. And, bro, in case you didn't know, life is not all about catching perps and raising your kid. There is a little thing called sex still and some people think its kinda a necessary component to being happy."

"Unsubs."

"What? Un-what?"

"Unsubs. We call them unsubs not preps. And I'm as happy as I can be, considering the circumstances. So about that James Beard nominee?"

"I wasn't just nominated. I won. I sent you a message on Facebook about it weeks ago."

"Facebook? Oh, I think our tech analyst set that up for me as a demonstration during a case one time."

Sean rolled his eyes. "I should have figured you weren't actually on a social media site. Wouldn't want to risk bringing any fun into your life. And I've been sending you stuff for your farm for months now."

"Excuse me? My farm?"

Sean laughed at Hotch's confused expression. As his brother explained the games on Facebook Hotch's mind was temporarily drawn away from thoughts of Emily across the restaurant with her date but later when Sean and him went to leave they had to pass the table where Emily and Mick sat.

Hotch stopped to say a quick hello because it would be rude otherwise. Emily startled a little at seeing him there. He left the restaurant with a bad taste in his mouth.

Mick had been holding Emily's hand.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It was no one's fault but her own that her sex life sucked. She did this to herself over and over. Developed inappropriate feelings for men she shouldn't want and never was satisfied with the men who wanted her.

Every date she went on seemed like a hellish encounter to just get through. Yet, like a school girl, she got a secret thrill from checking out the butt of some guy who should be off limits. It had always been that way for Emily Prentiss and, even at her age, she was fearing it would always be this way.

For a while she almost gave up on dating but then she would remember how badly she wanted to be a mother and she'd say yes to some guy who she didn't really like very much just on the off chance maybe it would all work out. Really she should just make some major changes in her life. Leave the BAU. Adopt a baby or use a sperm bank to get artificially inseminated. Work an office job with normal hours. Get a cat and forget about men all together.

But leaving the BAU meant leaving these people she had come to love with all her heart in the years she had worked with them. They were closer to her than her own biological family. So, though she knew what she should do, she kept putting it off because she kept thinking maybe somehow, someway things would work out.

If she left then she'd feel even emptier inside, she feared. So she stayed and tried to be happy but sometimes she was so frustrated. And sometimes she found herself doing the same hopeless things again and again.

Like tonight.

Sitting in Hotch's office drinking Scotch, that she had brought in, and talking about her worries that Morgan was not coping well after all that went down in San Francisco.

Hotch said "I'll have Rossi speak to him. Maybe he'll open up some to him but its hard for Morgan to share his burdens unless he's ready to do so."

"I know. I just see how this is weighing on him and I wish he'd let us in."

"It's a catch 22, this job."

"How so?"

"The closest people to us are each other and yet sometimes we need an outsider's perspective on the whole thing. But who among us really has anyone in their life that isn't somehow involved in law enforcement too? Those are the only people who could ever understand us."

"Yeah, I see your point. Only someone in law enforcement would understand and yet that means we never really escape this job, even at home."

He took a sip of his scotch. "Yet someone not in law enforcement can't truly know the burdens we bear."

"It _is_ a catch 22."

Just then his cell buzzed. He read the text message. "Its my brother's last night in town and he wants me to meet him at the bar around the corner from here. He's already there."

Emily stood up. "You shouldn't keep him waiting then. Good night, Hotch."

She had almost made it to the door when he called out "You wouldn't...like to join us, would you?"

Knowing she should say no, she turned around and gave him a small smile. "Sure."

XXXXXXXXX

They were having a good time together at the bar until Emily got a text. She read it and frowned. "Excuse me, I need to go make a call. Mick's team just got back in town and he wants to get together tonight."

"Don't let us keep you," Hotch told her, in a kind way, even though he felt an unreasonable amount of jealousy over the idea of Mick Rawson getting to run his hands over Emily's beautiful naked body later tonight.

"I'd much rather be here. Actually I'd much rather end things with him all together but I'm trying to break my old habits. I always cut and run. Someone has to stick. Or, I should say, at some point I finally gotta just stick with someone. I guess Mick is a decent someone to try that with."

Sean chose this moment to chime in with "Why don't you give my brother here I shot? You know I've never seen him so green with jealousy as that night he saw you with that dude at La Gaulios," he named the five star French restaurant where they had run into her and Mick the other night.

Emily chuckled nervously at Sean's words, sure they were a joke, till she looked at Hotch. Right then he knew his eyes gave him away. His damn little brother. Over thirty years old and Sean was still acting childish. What gave him the right to say such an embarassing thing?

Emily said "I better make my call," and then headed outside the bar.

Hotch waited till she was outside and then told his brother. "You're a jackass."

"What? Its true. I did you a favor. I've never seen someone who needs to get laid worse than you in all my life."

Hotch took his beer away. "You've had enough to drink tonight."

Sean took the beer back. "I'll just tell her I was kidding. No harm done."

"You just shut up about the whole thing from now on. Not another word and I mean it." Hotch then walked outside. He hung back, waiting for Emily to be done with her call. When she was she turned back toward the bar and saw him there. "I'm sorry for my brother's comment. He's never been very mature. I hope he did not embarrass you because that's the last thing I would want."

"I know it was just a joke. As if you'd be jealous of me dating someone."

"Actually I have never been so consumed with a sickening, bitter, envious feeling in all my life as when I saw Rawson take your hand that night."

Her mouth dropped open. "Impossible. You're trying to make me feel better because I'm such a loser at love. That's nice but don't go to extremes."

"I very rarely go to extremes. That's probably where the crux of my problems lay. I sit back and stay in a small box. Its rather boring and very lonely. Rawson is a lucky man, Emily. He better treat you well or else I'll be having a talk with him...and another with you. Because I would treat you well. And if you plan on putting in an effort to stick with someone it should be the man who is ill at the thought of another touching you."

She swallowed hard. Her breathing was shallow. "It really should be..."

He gave her a small smile. "We should go back inside. Right now you're in a relationship and I'm your unit chief. Too bad we did not have this conversation when Morgan still was running the unit."

She smiled softly. "You do know that all you've done now is given me fodder for a new fantasy about you not being my boss so we can do anything we want anywhere we want, after Garcia kills the cameras at work, of course."

His body went very hard. Hotch cleared his throat. He opened the door for Emily. "Food for thought."

That night they danced together and the next day she ended her relationship with Mick Rawson. During the next case she told Hotch that while they were driving to a victim's relative house together.

He gave her a surprised look. "That was fast."

"He wasn't the right guy to stick to."

"You are a decisive woman. When you get your mind made up that's it."

"If you were having the kind of fantasies and dreams I've been plagued with you would act fast too."

"What makes you think I haven't been?"

She smiled. Her cell rang with a call from Rossi. As she talked to him she kept shooting Hotch tender looks. Finally they were on the same page.

They had confronted their feelings and came to a place where they could act on all their longing, lust and growing love. It was unavoidable that one day push would come to shove for those two, who had skirted around each other for years.

It just took Sean Hotchner coming along with his big mouth to make it happen. Aaron realized he should have invited his brother to town a while ago. Aaron's sex life would have gotten a lot better a lot faster if he had done that. Even with Emily as his employee Aaron knew he couldn't resist her.

She was too tempting. And she wasn't about to let her fantasies and dreams go forever unfulfilled. She wanted to stick to a man finally.

Hotch couldn't stand the thought of that man being anyone but him.

THE END


	2. Broken Road, HotchRossi, part one

**Note-** I signed up for the Fanfic Challenge Round 3 – Dealer's Choice Challenge on Chit Chat on Author's Corner. That means another participant gave me a pairing to write and three things, two of which must be in the story.

I got Hotch/Rossi and the items are a condom, a sunflower, and a sweaty shirt. According to the rules the story does not need to be romantic. At first, I very much thought about writing these two guys as just buddies but the person who suggested the prompt, from what I understand, likes them as a slash pairing so in the spirit of truly fulfilling her prompt I will write them that way also.

I've written slash for the ABC soaps but not Criminal Minds before. First time for everything, I guess. The title of this comes from the song God Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts

**The Broken Road**

**Hotch and Dave, slash.**

**Part One**

**June 2010**

Aaron Hotchner was known for being a very closed off, secretive, stoic man. He kept his problems to himself for the most part. But if there was anyone he would tell his worries to it was his best friend David Rossi.

Ever since Dave rejoined the BAU Hotch had found a true friend and ally in the older man. Something he desperately needed because the last three years had been the hardest of his life. His marriage fell apart and then his ex-wife was murdered by an unsub who only targeted her to cause Hotch unbearable agony- and Foyet had managed that, without a doubt. The guilt that Haley's death brought Hotch kept him numb for several months after that.

No one knew what it was that broke him out of his mourning and brought some life back into his eyes. He doubted his team of profilers would so much as guess at what he had been up to if he gave them twenty tries. For all their skills at assessing the behaviors of stranger they never had been very astute at profiling each other. Being so close to someone clouded judgements and perceptions so Hotch's secret life was safe from the rest of the team.

Or it had been. Come next Monday morning he would have to inform them all before the rumors started to fly around the bureau. He was less upset to have to out himself than he was at the reason behind it.

The first person he wanted to tell, before he stood before his team and made the announcement, was Dave. Out of respect for their friendship and because Hotch could use his help and support right now.

Knocking on Dave's open office door, late on a Friday night when they didn't have a case, Hotch asked "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure. Come on in. What's the matter? You look like someone just killed your dog. Only problem is you don't have a dog so that can't be it."

Hotch closed the door. With a miserable expression on his face he looked at his friend. "I'm being stalked."

Dave's eyebrow arched. "Run that by me again."

"A man is stalking me. Its been going on for a few weeks and he just escalated."

Pulling open his drawer Dave took out a bottle of scotch and two glasses. He poured them and passed one to Hotch. "Why don't you have a seat and start at the beginning. Like why I didn't know about this a few weeks back."

"I thought I could handle it. At first it was minor things. Excessive phone calls leaving irate messages day and night. Sending me rambling letters. But then he left a used condom on my doorstep and keyed my car by scratching into it a derogatory word for homosexuality."

"That's why you had that rental last week. Blown head gasket my ass."

"I didn't want to believe he'd escalate but he has."

"How so?"

"He broke into my house while we were gone on the last case. I know it was him because of the things he wrote on the wall in red spray paint. He was in my house, Dave. The home where I raise my son was violated by someone intent on showing me I will not live without him in my life. If I won't be with him any longer than I will not know a moment's peace, is how he put it in his last letter to me. Jack is staying with Jessica now full time until I have this settled, however long that takes. I have to know my son is safe. I have put my son in danger over my bad judgement call on bringing the wrong man into our lives."

"How do you know this guy exactly?"

"I needed some work done on my place. He was part of the construction crew."

"And?"

"One night he came back after work hours and I happen to be in town that evening. He said he left behind some tools but that was just a ruse. We both pretended to buy it though."

Hotch and Dave shared a long look and then Dave took a drink of his scotch before asking "And what caused the falling out?"

"He was showing signs of wanting more than I could give. Every time I tried to pull back he reacted in an irrational and unstable manner. He would say he couldn't live without me and I was the most important thing in his world. The first few times I was flattered. I know that sounds bizarre, knowing what I know about psychological tendencies, but I was too close to the situation to see it for what it was until he exploded on me when I said I needed a break from seeing him."

"I take it you didn't make a report that night?"

"We were at his place. He tore the place up and threatened violence on himself but that's about it. There was no crime to file official charges about and I wouldn't have even if we were at my place when he started breaking tvs and windows. I wanted this kept under the rug but now he's crossed the line. I can't have him coming into my home and endangering my child. I've always contacted the police about the break in and I plan to file a restraining order. Monday morning I'll have to inform the brass. I wanted you to hear it first, from me."

"Anything you need..."

"Thank you." Hotch got up and headed for the door.

"Hotch..."

Hotch looked back.

Dave said "Not to get all into your business, and you can tell me to butt out if you want, but was this the first man you were ever with?"

"I never cheated on Haley after we were married but before...in college...there was a guy in my fraternity and another when I went to Europe for a backpacking trip. The latter was three days in France but the former I've kept in contact with sporadically for the last ten years since he looked me up and we exchanged email addresses. Its never been anything but friendly for the last twenty years though. When I married Haley I believed I had answered all my questions and I could suppress my urges. Even after we were divorced I thought if I ever had interest in dating again it would surely be a woman. And it may be again. This time it wasn't. Honestly this only happened because he pushed for it. I was glad to have someone come along that forced me to act again...feel again...but he was the wrong someone, as I can see now."

Dave drank another swallow of his scotch. "Thank you for coming to me first but you should you have had your ass in here telling me this weeks ago, if not when the relationship first started. I tell you all my exploits."

Hotch gave him a very small smile. "I'm not you. I rarely have exploits."

"Don't let this take you back out of the game."

"I can't think of that right now. All I can concentrate on is protecting my family from this unstable guy. Not letting him become another unsub who rips his way through my family."

Dave stood up. "We won't let that happen another time. You know you're welcome at my place. You can bring Jack along and stay as long as you need."

"We both know stalkers can take years to bring to justice."

"He's already broke in. He's not going to go underground now. Its just a matter of him getting picked up by the LEOs and booked on trespass and vandalism charges-"

"Which will have him back on the street in mere hours.

"Pursue the stalking charges and report him if he violates the restraining order."

"When he does."

"Basically, we both know, this guy isn't gonna stop so its all about just waiting for him to make his next move. No sense in you being at your place alone when that happens."

"Don't worry about it. I can more than handle myself."

"You'll be sleeping with one eye open, huh?"

"And my gun loaded."

"I assumed as much. Still the invitation is open if you want to come stay with me."

"No thank you but thanks for listening tonight and reacting calmly to this news as if I just didn't reveal my homosexual tendencies to you out of the blue. I know the team will be surprised that I have a sex life at all, let alone with a man, and won't take it as quietly as you have."

Dave gave him a deep grin. "You know my reputation. I've been with women, men and farm animals, sometimes all at the same time. I can't be shocked. And I always knew you had a sex life. I just thought it only involved one person and a lot of lube."

"You were half right. Good night."

"Be safe, Hotch."

"I intend to."

XXXXXXXXXXX

A few weeks later Dave got a call in the middle of the night that had him racing to his car and over to his best friend's house. When he got there the house was filled with cops.

Dave flashed his credentials and got inside. He found Aaron upstairs, sitting on the bed, getting questioned by a police officer. The sweat shirt he was wearing was soaked with blood and sweat.

Holding his credentials up Dave introduced himself and asked for a moment alone with Hotch. The officer left. She took with her a gun in an evidence bag.

Dave said "I saw a blood stain in the living room but no body. The coroner already been out here?"

"I just wounded him. I think he's gonna make it. It took all the strength I had to not aim a little to the left and shoot him right through the heart."

"You did the right thing. He's sick. He'll go to a mental hospital for the help he needs."

"And in a year the doctors will declare him cured, he'll get back out on the streets and this will start all over again."

"That happens and then you go ahead and shoot him through the heart. Because if you don't then I will."

Hotch let out a long breath. He got up and paced around the room. "I can't keep living here. I can't live somewhere marred by violence. That's what I see at work everyday but at home I need it to be safe and peaceful. Jack deserves that."

"This time I'm not taking no for an answer. You're coming to stay with me."

"This time I'm not giving no as an answer. Lets get out of here."


	3. Broken Road, HotchRossi, part two

**The Broken Road**

**Hotch and Dave, slash.**

**Part 2**

** September 2010**

The weeks turned to months with them living together. Hotch made some efforts to look for a new home to purchase but the efforts were half hearted at best because he was enjoying staying with Dave and Dave kept telling him he liked having Hotch and Jack there. It made his house feel like a home to him.

For Hotch nothing had changed at all. He always had saw Dave as a great friend, who he was incredibly grateful to have in his life, and that didn't change a bit. It only deepened and intensified.

But he learned that for Dave things were very much different. One evening at the end of September, when it was starting to turn cold outside, they were in the backyard after Jack had gone to sleep, having a drink on the deck and looking out at the lake that sat behind Dave's home. It was very peaceful there because Dave's place abutted woods.

"Natalie is angling for a commitment," Dave told Hotch, speaking about a woman Dave had been seeing on and off for six months. More off than on lately but he still made time for her every couple of weeks. She wanted much more than that from him though. She wanted them to get serious finally.

"She must not realize who she is dealing with," Hotch joked.

Dave chuckled. "She does that's why she's so insistent on pinning me down. She knows if she doesn't there's no telling who I'll hump when she's not looking. She's convinced I have someone new in my bed five nights out of seven a week."

"Five nights out of seven you're on the road and the other two you're usually here with me and Jack. Do you tell her that?"

"Sure but she's smart enough to know there's more to the story."

Hotch raised an eyebrow. "What have you been up to this time, you old dog?"

"I'm too old to play games. And I've never been chicken shit to make a move on someone in my life. Till the last few months. The stakes are really high this time and I guess that has me second guessing my instincts."

"Or it could be the memory of those three divorces taught you to not jump from the frying pan into the fire."

"Nah."

Hotch smiled slightly and drank a sip of scotch. "So who is Natalie's biggest rival then? I've seen no sign of another woman around you. I certainly hope you aren't breaking the frat rules yet again."

Hotch gave him a stern look that said Dave's dick better stay far from the women on the team or else.

The team had enough drama between JJ and Reid's long standing infatuation with each other that had to settle for friendship due to the fact she was terrified of love and he didn't have the forcefulness in his personality to just grab her and soothe away her fears with his promises, like the way Will had. So JJ and Reid became confidants. He is the godfather of her son and she is his late night phone call when he feels like using. But if they will ever find anything more its hard to say. Hotch kinds of doubts it because they let their chance slip away. Now things are too complicated and Will is not giving up or going away. He's a good man, which only makes it that much harder on them all.

The team also has the dynamic of the best friendship of Derek and Penelope, and their constant and unending flirting. During six long years of that, Hotch had heard them both say things that had made his cheeks go scarlet and his ears burn. Some people assumed that those two had sex some time in the past, maybe way back when they first met, but to Hotch its clear they had never have even kissed. It was clear to him that there was still too much unresolved sexual tension for them to have gotten close to a real affair yet.

Having those two situation going on with the team Hotch certainly didn't need Rossi to make a move on Emily or JJ or Penelope. It would just make another messy situation to throw into the mix.

Dave stepped close to Hotch. "Not yet but I certainly hope that changes very soon."

Hotch could see the lustful, yet also hesitant, hopeful and nervous, look that was in his friend's eyes. Suddenly it became clear that no woman on the team was in Dave's sights. It was Hotch himself that the old lothario was hot after.

Hotch swallowed hard. He had never once thought of going there with Dave. Just because Hotch was bi, and knew all along Dave was the same, didn't mean Hotch ever thought that would lead to an encounter between them. Hotch had come to rely on Dave as a friend. That is the category in Hotch's mind where Dave was firmly situated, even after months of growing desperately close and co-dependent while living together.

While Hotch was trying to process his thoughts on Dave hitting on him, Dave raised a hand and ran his knuckles down the back of Hotch's face. That simple touch decided it all for Hotch. It felt so good. So natural. So right. Dave turned his hand over and caressed Hotch's cheek. Hotch leaned into the touch.

Their eyes were locked on each other.

Dave said "You didn't really think I was gonna let you move out on me anytime soon, did ya? I may have been happy to see three wives storm out my door but it would be a bad day if you and your son pack up and leave me." Dave ran his thumb over Hotch's lips. "Say this is your home. Say I'm your home. Say the words, Hotch, and this can be permanent."

"You hate commitment."

"I love commitment. I just suck at making it last. But I'm older and wiser and you're not anything like any of my ex wives."

"I should hope not."

In a low and throaty tone Dave implored "Hotch," asking for a sign that Hotch would admit he had feelings back for Dave.

"I haven't ever considered changing the nature of our relationship..."

Dave let got of Hotch's face. "So give it some thought then. But don't keep me waiting too long for an answer because I'm already at the point where I'm about to jump you every time you bend over."

Hotch gave him a stern look. "If you are serious about wanting this..."

"Do I seem to be joking with you?"

"Then you should realize you'll be the one getting jumped."

Dave took a moment to take that in and then eased close to Hotch again. "I'm sure we can work something out." He lifted his hands and caressed Hotch's face again before bringing his mouth to Hotch's.

That kiss was warm, soft, gentle and everything Hotch never knew in a kiss before. It was filled with sexual fire and intimacy, and also deep trust and honesty, even more so than Hotch had in his marriage. Being with his best friend was something Hotch didn't even let himself dream could happen, he hadn't gone there in his head before tonight, but now he was going there in his heart...one kiss and he was feeling like he was home.

Days later, after they broke through many boundaries and ended up in bed together, Hotch had no problem telling Dave, afterwards as Hotch was propped up with his head resting on his hand, "I know I'm home now."

"You bet your ass you are."

THE END


	4. Any Given Day, Rossi and Strauss

**Note**- _This was written for Pick Your Own Pairing Challenge on Chit Chat for Author Corner. The prompt is:_

_Character A & Character B kiss because of heightened emotions after someone else dies (whether that someone else is an unsub, BAU member, their mother, sister, friend, anyone)._

**Any Given Day**

**Erin Strauss and Dave Rossi**

**November 2010**

Erin knew what kind of mood David would be in when she reached his office. Knew it would be ugly. He would be mean. He'd be blaming himself, blaming her, blaming God and the Devil in equal parts, their bosses, the whole government, anyone and anything he could think of he would blame for this.

Her death had been so senseless. She wasn't the only person who died today but she was the only one who mattered to them.

Even though it would have been smarter to stay away from David today, and for weeks to come if Erin didn't want to get her head bitten off, she went straight to his office upon receiving the bureau wide email.

The FBI was locked down so none of them could leave the building right now. She slipped into his office without knocking. A lesser woman would have gasped at the sight in front of her.

The desk was overturned, papers and books littered the floor, his computer was laying in a broken heap, glass from picture frames glinted up off the carpet. And there he sat, on his leather couch, a drink in his hand, breathing heavily, eyes looking glassy and dazed.

He hissed at her "Get the fuck out of my sight. You are the last person I want to see right now."

Ignoring his words she walked over and plucked the drink from his hand, set in on a book shelf, and said "It won't help any."

"Nothing will help any now! She's dead!"

"I know."

"I should have done more!"

"There was nothing any of us could do. Her transfer was over all our heads."

He stood up, eyes flaring with anger, raring for a fight against an easy target. And Erin had always been that to David. Ever since their days of being young agents who drank too much and always challenged each other in the field (her cold and by the book, him loose and wild, him always trying to get her to break her boundaries and for a while there she had) it was like this between them. They would square off and neither one would dare back down till someone was in flames. They had so much history between them they could fill up a stadium with it. The history of what they did, what they didn't do, what they wanted to do, what they couldn't do, what they gave up on, what they clung hard to, what they said, who they betrayed, who they would always remain even long after they realized how futile their actions really were in the grand scheme of things.

It was ironic, she believed now, that it was him, out of all the agents she worked with back in the day, who was still around now. He had been the first one to pack up and leave for better horizons. Yet he couldn't stay away. He had to get back in the game and settle old scores- even if it was the death of him to do it.

And it very well could be. On days like today it felt like it was just one more step till he became a memory- the legendary David Rossi, an epitaph on a stone in a cemetery. Then there wouldn't be anymore ghosts to haunt this man. But for right now he was consumed by things in his past he wished he had done different.

People he wished he could have saved.

The weight of too many senseless deaths bore down on his shoulders and etched in the lines of his face. He needed someone to take it out on. Before she ever left her office that day Erin knew she would be that person for him, because he needed her to be.

Dave's eyes were filled with dueling anger and regret as he stood glaring at her and then spat out "You could have kept JJ here if you wanted! You could have fought for her!"

"I did."

"Don't give me that bullshit!"

"If Agent Jarreau was here she would still be alive but-"

"Damn right she would be." He grabbed Erin's wrist and jerked her against his body. "And I blame you for that as much as anyone! You have blood on your hands just as much as me."

"The only people with bloody hands are the terrorists who bombed the building and killed our colleagues today, and you know that. You just can't accept it right now. But it does nothing for her memory to behave the way you are."

Breathing hard, their bodies pressed together, he hissed "Don't you talk about her memory. That's for people who loved her. You made her life hell. You don't get to talk about her now."

"I was an advocate for her many times. Whether you believe that or not."

"Shut up!" He slammed his lips against hers, taking her mouth in a kiss as intense as the first one they shared twenty some years before when she was engaged to another man and David was her flirty co-worker who said she should run off with him rather than get hitched.

She hadn't. Just like David knew all along she wouldn't. That is just not who she was. She couldn't take that kind of risk with her future.

But what she could take, and take oh so well, was this punishment he was delivering to her today. Giving her a kiss she shouldn't want and yet had been craving ever since their last angry, needy, drunken kiss a few years back- right after he had re-joined the BAU and handled a case in Indianapolis that brought back old memories for him.

He got back to the BAU that night, cracked into a fresh bottle of scotch and by the time he was a few glasses in he was ready to find her and get a few things off his chest about her ice queen attitude. She happened to be working late. He came into her office, told her off, and they had ended their arguement with a fiery kiss before Erin pushed David away and kicked him out of her office.

Today she didn't push him away though. Today she took his punishing kiss because she not only wanted it but because he needed to give it to her. He needed to spew his emotions on someone and she was the one he could get the most raw with on any given day.

His hand held the back of her head as his mouth devoured her lips. He forced her backwards, her heels crunching over broken glass and strewn papers, until her ass was on the edge of his desk. His hand closed around her breast, covered by her lacy bra and silk blouse.

She wrenched her mouth free of his and threw back her head.

He stilled. Seeming to realize what he was doing all of the sudden. Panting hard he backed away from her and ran his hand through her hair. "She was a young mother...was...I can't believe I'm talking about JJ in past tense."

"It's a terrible loss for your team and her family," Erin said, as kindly as she could, while adjusting her clothes. She lay her hand on David's arm. "If there is anything you need..." she murmured and then left, knowing he wouldn't come to her any time soon.

They both knew they only worked in small doses.

THE END


	5. Proof of Life, Hotch and JJ

__

This is my first time writing this pairing but I actually have shipped them for a while. One of my good fanfiction friends loves this pairing and got me into them long before I ever read any Morgan/Garcia or even watched Criminal Minds.

This is four parts.

****

Proof of Life

Hotch and JJ

September 2010

****

Part One

He was known for being a stoic man. A moral man. He walked the line. Did the right thing. That is just who SSA Aaron Hotchner was and nothing was going to change that. So he was most definitely not about to hit on his subordinate or make a move on a taken woman.

Jennifer Jareau was no longer working in the BAU so her being his subordinate wasn't any issue. And he wasn't going to her office, over at the Pentagon, to hit on her. So it wasn't as if he was crossing that invisible line that he would never cross.

He knew he had an attraction to JJ but it was something he could never act upon. Still that didn't mean he had any intention to let her slip out of his life, or rely on Garcia or Reid to let him know how she was doing and plan group events. He was a proactive man too.

So he took matters into his own hands and went to pay her visit on a day when the BAU was in town. He could use a break from his paperwork and meetings. What better way to spend a lunch hour than to see how JJ was doing on her new job? To make sure his friend was all right and knew she had their full support for whatever she needed.

He cleared security and rode the elevator up to her floor, got directions to her office and went there, knocking lightly on the open door.

She looked up from her paperwork. "Hotch," she said, in a surprised tone. "Hey!"

"JJ."

"I hope this is a social call and not delivering bad news in person."

"This is just me visiting someone I respect highly."

She flushed under his compliment. "Well, come on in! Have a seat. You can just move all those files. Sorry. This place is a mess already."

Seeing her messy office reminded him of her office at the BAU. His eyes were light with amusement as he moved the files from one chair and tried to balance them on a large stack on another chair. "I trust none of these are classified?"

"The classified ones are in there," she motioned toward large, locked filing cabinets. "I haven't even had a chance to glance at them yet. I feel like the moment I walked in here on my first day I was already two weeks behind, you know? There's so much to get used to over here."

"You'll do fine. Better than fine. That's why they wanted you so badly."

"I guess I should have sucked at my job a little more so I could still be working with you all."

He smiled slightly. "I hope I'm not interrupting too much. I just wanted to stop by and see how you're getting along."

"Were you in the building?"

"I had some time."

Her eyes held his. "Well I'm glad you came by. I could use a break." JJ stood up. "What do you say to going to the coffee shop? The stuff in the break room here is worse than Reid makes."

Hotch shook his head at that. "Is that possible?"

She smiled at him, grabbed her jacket and purse, and they left her office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

****

October 2010

He was starting to get concerned, as he looked at his watch for the sixth time in twenty minutes. It wasn't like JJ to be so late and not call. They had been meeting weekly, without fail, to have lunch. The days changed because of their work schedules but they always found at least one day every week to meet.

They didn't talk about why it mattered so much to each of them. If he needed an excuse to justify it to himself then he would say that he was concerned about her adjusting to her new job. He wanted to keep up with how she was doing. But the truth was that it went further than that. Over the years their had been a friendship between them but also moments that sizzled with little sparks of something else...something more, something that they always ignored. Each time he felt it, he had no doubt she felt it too. Her expressive eyes gave her away.

Yet it wasn't something either could pursue and it didn't drive him crazy with wanting a woman he could never call his own. His desire for JJ actually was a good thing for Hotch. It proved to him, time and again, he wasn't completely numb inside or stuck in a role that he couldn't deviate from. He was human still. His emotions were as wild and reckless as any other man's.

Today was proof of that. She was late and he couldn't help but think of the worse. Hazard of the job, probably. He knew what could go wrong on an otherwise ordinary day.

When he saw her walking across the restaurant to meet him at their usual table he stood up, relieved she seemed to be physically fine though she looked emotionally distressed.

When she reached him she said "Sorry I'm late. I got called into a meeting as I was walking out the door."

"That's fine. Don't worry about it. I already ordered since I assume you need to get back quickly- your usual, I hope that was all right."

"Thanks." She looked up and gave him grateful eyes but he could see the sadness in them.

He touched her arm. "What is it?"

She sighed and slid into her seat, after taking off her coat. "There's so much pressure there. It doesn't feel like home. I know it's a good opportunity but I never asked for this, you know? I'm doing my best and if it isn't good enough for them then I don't know what to do."

He stared deep into her eyes for a long moment. "You will do wonderfully on most days and on the days that you falter you will recover quickly, because that's just who you are. You know who you are, don't let anyone make you doubt your abilities."

She smiled slightly. "Thanks, Hotch."

"You know you could call me Aaron."

She chuckled. "I doubt I could get use to that."

He was happy to see her relaxing a little bit. Their lunches were good for him. He wanted them to make her life better too. If he had the slightest hint he was causing her troubles then he would back off. JJ meant too much to him to hurt her just so he could have the comfort of her company.

But so far she didn't seemed hurt. And they were firmly good friends, that's all. He would never try and compromise her relationship with Will. Her boyfriend and son had her nights. The Pentagon had her days.

Hotch had one lunch a week and he made the most out of it.


	6. Proof of Life 2, Hotch and JJ

****

Proof of Life

Hotch and JJ

Part Two

****

November 2010

"He's adorable," JJ said, as she looked at a picture of Jack dressed as his father for Halloween.

"He picked that outfit on his own," he said, proudly. "Can you guess what he is?"

"Lets see, with that suit on I'd say either an FBI agent or a failed Wall Street banker. Does he watch much news?" she joked.

"No, none actually. He is a fed. More specifically, myself."

She smiled at him. "That's so cute! Henry was Buzz Lightyear. He loves those movies. I'll email you some photos, if you'd like."

"I would like that very much. Thank you."

She gave him tender look. "I'm sure Spence was his usual ball of excitement around the office this year. Its his favorite holiday, you know?"

Hotch nodded. "He could barely contain himself."

"He sent me a text about some kind of horror magic show he had an extra ticket to."

"Yes, he was trying to talk us all into accompanying him. I think Prentiss drew the short straw."

JJ chuckled. "Well it might have been fun. I was just busy with Henry. I barely made it home for the last few minutes of trick or treating. Will had to take him out on his own, again, just like every year."

"We don't get much time at home so all we can do is make the most out of what time we do have. Will you be spending the holidays in Louisiana again this year?"

"Yep. It drives my parents crazy but holidays are the rare times Will gets to see his family and old friends."

"Does Will ever ask you to move down there?"

"We talked about it plenty of times. Usually when I'm pissed off about something at work."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I was a hard boss to work for."

"No, Hotch," she quickly said "it was never you. It was just the cases."

He nodded. "You always rose to my expectations."

"Thank you. You were a wonderful mentor to me."

"There are so many things you taught me so I'm not sure who was mentoring who. When it comes to dealing with the press and having compassion for the families, there is no one better."

"That is sweet of you to say. You know you're good at that. Building up my ego so when I head back to work I actually think I'm equipped to do my job. I'm lucky to have you around to keep making me think I know what I'm doing."

"You do know what you're doing. You just don't know that you know."

She chuckled. Their food arrived and they ate their lunch, still chatting warmly about their lives during the rest of the meal.

XXXXXXXXX

****

December 2010

"Is it snowing there?" she asked, into her cell phone. She had snuck away to call Hotch while visiting Will's family in New Orleans.

"Something terrible. They are calling for eight inches."

"God! I hope that the airport doesn't shut down."

"When do you fly home?"

"Two days from now."

"Hopefully you'll be fine then."

"Lets hope. So how is your holiday going? I was thinking about Jack earlier today. Did he like his bike?"

"He loves it but he thinks its unfair that its snowing and he can't ride it yet. He tried to convince me to let him try it out in the kitchen but that is not going to happen. It would set a bad precedence."

She chuckled. "Well, we can't have that."

"I do hope you're enjoying your holiday, Jennifer."

She smiled at the warm way he said her full name. She had hated her first name as a child, hence the JJ nickname that stuck, but when Hotch said it that was a different story. It rolled off his tongue in a way that sent shivers down her spine. "I am. Will loves being down here."

"That's good. Well I should let you get back to your family."

"You're family too, you know?"

He smiled. "Merry Christmas and please pass on my well wishes to Henry and Will."

"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen."

He raised an eyebrow.

JJ went on "Will wouldn't really approve. Not that there is anything to disapprove of."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"Its no big deal. I get to have friends, you know?"

"Of course. I should go now."

"Hotch?"

"Enjoy your holiday, Jennifer. Goodbye." He hung up, well aware that he had to keep his vow to himself: if he started to mess up her life then he would pull back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

****

February 2011

She was surprised when he told her that first week that he didn't have time to meet for lunch. But the BAU was known for sucking all of a person's time away. She knew that as well as any of the team. So she believed him.

The next week she got a bad feeling. Penelope said the team was in town. But still Hotch didn't have time for lunch. Budget meetings, he said.

The next week she didn't bother to call him and he didn't call her. She walked through the week cranky and growing pissed off. If she had done something then he should just tell her what it was so she could apologize. But, deep inside, she knew what she had done: told him that Will didn't know she was growing closer to Hotch. She let the profiler in him know that she was hiding their friendship, risking her relationship, that Hotch meant too much to her to let Will know about what was going on, that she couldn't say to Will "Its nothing."

She let him know he meant something to her as more than just a buddy, mentor, or family member.

And he bailed.

Jennifer Jareau had never been so disappointed in Aaron Hotchner in all her life.

The fourth and fifth weeks she sent him emails. Trying to sound cordial. Extending an olive branch. He wrote back that he didn't think he'd have time for anymore lunches anytime soon because he was buried beneath paperwork and Strauss was making noises about taking away another team member. Hotch had to do damage control and make sure the team stayed flawless. One slip up and Strauss would pounce. JJ could believe all that was true but she knew it was more than that too.

Hotch obviously wanted her to let him go. She knew that would be the smart thing to do. Run from her feelings another time. Not let it be real. She was good at that. Ignoring what she felt. How many times with how many men had she done that in the past?

It was her own fault really, she told herself. Because if she could have stopped her feelings for Hotch from growing from a tiny crush to more then they would be fine. He would still be meeting her for lunch every week. She had scared him off by suggesting something deeper lay between them.

She had no doubt he could feel it too but maybe the idea of admitting it made him want to flee the state. He certainly dropped her like a bad habit. She was pissed, hurt, lonely and confused.

"Damn you, Hotch," JJ muttered to herself as she drove into work on an overcast day. She wished Spring would hurry up and come. Winter seemed endless this year.


	7. Proof of Life 3, Hotch and JJ

**Proof of Life**

**Hotch and JJ**

**Part Three**

**April 2011**

Hotch stiffened when he saw JJ come into the bar. The BAU had a Saturday night off and they had met up to share some bonding time. They were all dressed casually, for once, and JJ was the same. She had on jeans, a silk blouse and a leather jacket.

He felt a rush of awareness shoot through him at seeing her approach. Shivers chased down his spine. And normally Hotch never felt shivers.

Reid followed Hotch's eyes and spotted JJ. "Hey!" he cried, loudly and happily.

"Jayje!" Garcia squealed, as if she hadn't seen her in months when Hotch was pretty sure they still saw each other regularly, but probably not as much as Garcia would like.

Derek was all smiles and so was Rossi. Emily was at the bar, getting a round, but when she came back her face lit up too. They had all missed their girl.

"Garcia invited me," JJ said "Hope that's okay." Her eyes met Hotch's.

Derek cried "Of course its more than okay. You're one of us. Always have been and always will be."

She smiled slightly. "Thanks. So tell me what was the most gruesome case since I left?"

They all groaned. Everyone had a different horror story to share. They night went on with Penelope and Derek flirting relentlessly, Reid winning every round of trivia that the bar had going on, JJ beating Rossi at darts, Prentiss hiding when Mick Rawson showed up (after a year he still didn't get that she wasn't interested and never would be) and so forth. A normal night for them.

All except the tension between Hotch and JJ. He could barely keep his eyes off her all night. He reveled in the feeling of having her near. He smiled more than usual. He knew she was mad at him but seeing her made him happy anyway. He had done the right thing, he was sure, when he had ended their weekly lunch dates. It was the best thing for her and her family. Not the best thing for him or his heart.

He didn't like the idea that the only time he would see her is at events like this but he would have to settle for this because it had caused her problems for them to be closer. And the last thing Hotch wanted was to make JJ's life worse for having known him.

At the end of the evening Reid asked JJ "Do you need a ride? Its on my way."

"I've been drinking Sprite all night. I'm fine. But thanks, Spence."

Hotch asked JJ "You're on his way?" with a raised eyebrow.

"I moved...into my own place...an apartment on Baxter Street."

He stilled. There was an uncomfortable silence. Garcia started to prattle on about the cute decorating the girls had done in the apartment.

They all headed outside and got in their vehicles. Reid was giving Derek and Penelope a ride. Rossi and Prentiss split a cab. Hotch asked JJ to give him a ride. She was surprised but said "Sure."

Once they were in her car she went to start it but he put his hand over hers. "You could have called me to tell me you left him. I would have been glad to listen if you needed to vent or just figure things out."

"Look, Hotch, I won't lie. You are a catalyst for me making changes in my life but all you did was make me admit the problems and distance that lay between me and Will. I didn't leave him to be with you so don't stress out about it or martyr yourself out of guilt. Yeah, it would have been easy to stay with him but not the right thing to do."

"How are you doing?"

"Surviving. Its Henry I worry about most but whether I leave Will now or in years it will be hard on my son. And, feeling the way I did, I knew that one day I would be leaving Will. It just got to the point where push came to shove."

"Perhaps the stress of your job made things seem more untenable than they really are."

"Maybe. I don't know. It's a mess. We're in therapy. I don't think its working. Therapy can't make my feelings of being unsure about him that I've had since day one change. He's not a bad guy and that makes this even harder. I want to just feel satisfied with him but I never have...our having lunches together just made me ask myself why I can talk to you more honestly than my own boyfriend and why I look forward to seeing you more than I ever once have looked forward to seeing him, even when we first met and even on the day I had Henry. I do love Will...but do I love him in that way? I don't know."

"I'm sorry, JJ."

"I'll figure this out." She gave him a soft look. "Don't be a stranger, okay? I need my friend."

"Okay." His eyes grew tender. "You should always know that no matter if we see each other or not, you do remain in my thoughts each day. I do care."

She flushed. "I should get you home."

"I could get a cab. I just wanted to have a word with you."

"Nonsense, Hotch. I'll take you home." She started the car. They drove to his place, not talking but listening to the radio all the way.

He hated to see the night end but eventually she pulled in front of his home. "Thank you for the ride. I appreciate it."

"No problem. I enjoyed getting a few minutes alone with you."

He stared into her eyes. Raising his hand he ran his knuckles over her cheek. "Jennifer."

"I should go."

Hotch moved back. "Of course." He opened the car door and then looked at her. "Feel free to call me if you should ever need or want to talk."

"I wouldn't want to bug you."

"You wouldn't be." With that said he turned and walked away. She just wasn't ready for more yet and he knew that.

What he didn't know is if she ever would be.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

**June 2011**

JJ couldn't believe what Garcia had just told her. Hotch had a date! The BAU was going crazy with gossip over it. They only found out because Reid happened to see Hotch out with the woman.

Garcia said that when Hotch walked into work the next day they had all been talking about him and his date in the roundtable room, trying to get information out of Reid. Hotch had cleared his throat and said "She works at the salon where Jack gets his hair cut. It was one date. Now lets get down to work."

Only one date but that didn't mean there wouldn't be more.

Lately JJ was feeling stronger. Her and Will had ended counseling and were now broken up for good. Though they were both devastated at how things had worked out (and crying jags for her were nothing unusual lately) they both had to admit that it was time to let each other go.

The split was sad but amicable. She felt guilt when he begged for a second chance and relief when he finally came to the conclusion that no second chance would be enough for them. He hadn't done anything wrong to make her leave him. He just had never been a man who made her want to race home to him. She always had one foot out the door the whole relationship. He always wanted more from her but was happy to know she had chosen him. Once he saw she would be miserable if she moved back in with him he let her go with as much grace as he could manage.

JJ worried constantly if she was making a mistake but she couldn't go back to Will now. She finally felt like she could breathe easy again on rare moments when she was in her own apartment and had Henry for the night. She felt like she didn't have to pretend to be someone she wasn't anymore.

And that had to be a good sign that she made the right choice. Hotch dating someone new was shocking but it wasn't enough of a reason for JJ to race to the BAU and stake a claim on him. She still needed time to grieve the loss of her relationship and make herself strong again.

It did worry her though, to hear of the date, because now she knew that when she was ready to date again Hotch just may not be there waiting for her.


	8. Proof of Life, the end, Hotch and JJ

**Proof of Life**

**Thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it. **

**Hotch and JJ**

**Part Four**

**September 2011**

Her favorite days were Hotch days. She saw him when one of the kid's had a birthday, when the team had a dinner or went to the bar, and all summer Derek had been having cook outs. JJ was pretty convinced that Garcia was the one making him keep inviting the team to his place every other weekend. Garcia could be trying to play matchmaker.

JJ didn't mind. Each time she got to hang out with Hotch it felt wonderful- exciting and yet comfortable all at the same time.

She had teased him, back in June when they went to the bar, about his one date. He nearly blushed and she had bit back her smile. As the summer went on she learned he hadn't ever went on a second date with that woman. He said it didn't feel quite right with her and he didn't want to lead her on.

Once JJ was feeling stronger she decided to ask Hotch on a date. She was a little nervous but he had been giving her plenty of signs that he was interested. She knew she had to take the chance.

They were standing by her car, after one of Derek's cook outs, when she said "I happened to have an extra ticket to a play, if you'd be interested. That is if the team doesn't end up having a case that night and no emergency hits my desk." She gave him hopeful eyes.

"What play?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really but I'm curious."

"You like the theater, right? I mean, Garcia said you did and you've mentioned-"

"I do enjoy the theater occasionally." He seemed to be enjoying her slight nervousness. "And, yes, I would like to join you for an evening out, schedules permitting."

"I should warn you of something..."

He raised an eyebrow.

She added "It's a musical."

He smiled slightly. "Well that changes everything. Forget it."

She chuckled. "Fine. Have it your way."

He said "I suppose I could reconsider since I would have such good company."

"Glad you came to your senses so quickly." She opened her car door. "Well good night then. The play is the last Saturday of this month. Just let me know if you're going to be in town or not, once you figure it out."

"I look forward to it. Thank you for the invitation, Jennifer."

She gave him a tender look. "No, Hotch, thank you for being understanding of my situation. I've been told by plenty of men that I'm a handful and I make it too hard when it doesn't need to be. Thanks for seeing through all that."

"I apologize for the way I acted after the holidays. I knew it was what I had to do but I hated hurting you that way. I did want you to have every chance to make your relationship work, if it could be saved."

"It couldn't and that was all on me and Will, not you. You did he right thing. The smart thing."

"The last year has flown by."

"I can't believe its been that long since you were my boss."

"Things are going better for you now at the Pentagon, right?"

"I've adjusted but it will never be home. Still there was one good thing about leaving the BAU..." she smiled at him, climbed inside her car and closed the door.

He stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets and a grin on his lips as he watched her drive away. When he turned back to the house he found Garcia and Jessica peeking out the window at him and JJ. They darted back when he spotted them.

Hotch chuckled. He hadn't felt so good in a long time. And it was all because of Jennifer. There was always something lingering there between them just waiting for the right moment to explode...and the last Saturday of September seemed to be the date marked on the calendar for their first chance at finding their perfect moment.

The wait was more than worth it. He hadn't really expected this day to come but now that it had it didn't make him nervous. They had eased into this.

Hotch felt ready and the light in JJ's eyes tonight had promised him that if he was ready then she was willing to finally see what they could be.

XXXXXXXXXXX

His eyes washed over her body and took in the sight of her in a long black dress that nicely bared her shoulders. Her hair was in an elegant updo and diamond earrings dangled from her earlobes.

He swallowed hard. "Good evening, Jennifer. You look wonderful."

"Do I?" she flirted. "Good. Cause this took all day."

He smiled a little. "Well worth the effort."

She flushed under his admiring eyes. "Just let me grab my purse and wrap." She walked over to the coffee table and picked them up.

Hotch came over and took the wrap, he put it around her shoulders. She smiled and looked up at him. "Thank you."

They left for their date. After the play they had dinner at an Italian restaurant. They went the whole nine yards with appetizers, soup, salad, the main course and dessert. They talked so long that finally they realized the restaurant was closing down.

Hotch noticed the waiters putting up chairs. He said "I think we're keeping them."

JJ looked around. "Oh! I didn't realize it was so late."

"The time got away from us." Hotch stood up and held his hand out to her. All evening she had been walking with her arm wrapped around his.

She took his hand and stood up, giving him a warm smile. "Well I had a great evening with you. Thank you for accepting my invitation."

"Perhaps next time you will accept mine."

She beamed at him. "Perhaps," she flirted.

They walked outside and before they made it a few steps Hotch bent down and gave JJ a very gentle kiss. His first kiss with anyone other than Haley. It was soft and sensual.

After he pulled away she murmured "I will accept if you should call me up and ask me for a date. No running this time. And if I do...you better call me on it."

"That is a deal."

And that's just what he did from then on. They fell into a sweet love that had been waiting for them to be ready for it. A love that had always been just out of reach until it finally was within their grasps. A love that was too good to run from.

THE END


	9. Can't Hate You Anymore, Rossi Strauss

This is for the Fanfic Challenge 2010 at Chit Chat on Author's Corner.

I think this story still needed to be adopted. Its Rossi and Strauss, Coraline. I actually did see that movie with my niece. The general plot is a little girl slips through a space in the wall of her house and goes to an alternate world with a new mom and dad, but they are evil and she wants to get back home again.

So this fic is about going back to a place you lost.

**Can't Hate You Anymore**

**Rossi and Strauss**

She slipped out of her luxury sedan and stepped onto the gravel driveway. Lifting her dark sunglasses she pushed them up on her head and looked at the forest, then the lake, spotting him sitting on the pier with a fishing pole.

For a moment she drifted back in time to the last day that they were here together. They had made love on the back deck, in a chaise lounger, as rain poured down on them. The damn memories were enough to torture her half to death, she swore they were.

(_The silence makes you wanna scream._

_It drives you crazy._

_I chased away the shadows of your name_

_and burned a picture in the frame_

_but it couldn't save me_.)

He bought this cabin for them. She was sure that he never told anyone that. Back when he purchased it they needed a place away from the city, her husband, her kids and their colleagues prying eyes. This was the first place that they ever slept together.

Back then it felt like a dare when he told her he'd be staying out there for a solid month writing his first book, if she wanted to stop by some time. He was just renting then. And she really hadn't planned to take him up on his offer.

Around their job everyone knew that David Rossi was a romeo that no smart woman would trust with her heart or body. And Erin Strauss prided herself on being a smart woman.

But the pull between them was strong. Her loneliness in her marriage intense. The pressure of her job weighed down on her everyday. He was the thing around that place that made her heart race, the only man who kept her up nights thinking what it would be like if she took him up on his flirting one of those times.

Their first weekend, when she told her husband she was away on business, turned into a heady, lusty, wanton, desperate, emotional, angry and intense love affair for the next handful of months. And then he called it quits, just like he walked out of all his marriages. He just turned away from her.

She slipped back into her quiet, boring life after that, feeling more anger inside of herself than she knew what to do with. She blamed David for that. For her being so cold. He had showed her who she could be- sexy, fierce, funny, passionate- and she hated the woman she turned into all the more for knowing she could be different. Hated him the most for making her feel just to shut her down, shut her out, in the end.

(_And how can we quit something_

_that we never even tried?_

_Well, you still can't tell me why_.)

They fought constantly about if she should leave her husband, in those last few weeks. Erin wondered over the next dozen years if she should have taken David up on his offer. But the pragmatist in her knows he would have left her in the end anyway. He loved marriage but he never stayed in one longer than a few years.

She had kids to think about, and her career. She couldn't just jump at the chance to be his fourth wife. She knew that. They had both known it.

And for years they had hated each other for that truth.

_(We built it up_

_to watch it fall_

_like it meant nothing at all._

_xxxxx_

_I gave and gave the best of me_

_but couldn't give you what you need._

_xxxxxx_

_You walked away._

_You stole my life_

_just to find what you're looking for._

_xxxxxxx_

_But, no matter how I try, I can't hate you anymore._

_I can't hate you anymore)_

Slowly she walked down to the dock. Just like all those years ago, he had dared her to come out here for this weekend. It was just a few days after they got into a heated argument over budget cuts in her office. He accused her of having nothing in her life but the fucking FBI and she accused him of having nothing at all in his life that meant a thing to him.

When he came by her office days later, late at night, stuck his head in and gave her a rueful smile, she knew he was up to something. "Hey...fyi, I'm gonna be working on my book out at the cabin all next week. You remember the cabin, don't you, Erin?"

"Vaguely," she said, in a cold tone. "I remember you refused to install air conditioning. It made it miserable there."

"We did all right, as I recall." He smiled at her for a moment and then his smile fell. "Stop by if you get time next week." With that said he walked out, a challenging look in his eye.

Why she was here, she couldn't say, except she had only backed down from one challenge before in her life. That was when she refused to take the ring he bought her. She wasn't about to back down this time. She was divorced now. Her life was dull, quiet, the kids all grown up.

Erin could use something completely wild and unstable in her perfectly ordered little life. And David had always been that to her.

It was time for a cease fire.

(_There's only so many tears_

_that you can cry_

_before it drains the light right from your eyes._

_And I can't go on that way_.)

Standing twenty yards behind him she called out "Catch anything?"

He didn't turn around. "Not even a nibble. We'll have to order in dinner."

"Does anyone even deliver out here?"

He chuckled. "Chuck's Bait and Burger Shop."

"Charming."

Dave set down the fishing pole, stood up and walked over to her. "So you decided to let a little more fun back into your gray FBI regulation world?"

"I suppose that I have. That is if you don't drive me commit murder and plead the insanity defense."

"That never works."

"Then I guess I won't attempt it."

He raised his hand and brushed his knuckles over her cheek. "Do you know what you're doing here? I'm not looking to be jerked around another time. I'm too old for that game now."

"Do not pretend that anything would make you send me away right now because we both know better."

"Cocky, Erin. I like it." Then he gripped the back of her neck, pulled her against him and gave her a kiss that she spread heat through her belly. She hadn't been kissed like that since the last time they had kissed.

She wasn't sure what she was doing out here but Erin Strauss knew she didn't regret making the trip, taking the chance. This was a kiss she'd been waiting a dozen years to get again. A kiss she had no right to, because she had chickened out of being with him way back then, but a kiss that she still would claim as her own, despite all the reasons that they shouldn't go there, that they should stick to what was safe- hating each other at a reasonable distance.

After David moved back he said "I hope you brought a change of clothes. You can't fish in heels."

"That's perfectly all right because you know I don't fish, hunt or clean the dead things you drag inside at the end of the day."

"Don't you think its about time you loosened up a little?" he joked, as they started to walk toward the cabin.

"I'm as loose as I need to be."

"Believe me, that is far from true." As they walked he reached up and massaged her shoulder. "See here? You carry tension like a lead boulder."

"And fishing will help that? I think not."

"Fishing is very relaxing. Well, if you don't count the way your heart races just cause I'm nearby."

She laughed. "You certainly give yourself a lot of credit."

He stopped, smiling, and looked into her eyes. "I expect to hear that sound a lot tonight. You have a great laugh. I bet most of our colleagues wouldn't guess that."

"There's not much to laugh about around there, David."

"Well, then I guess its a good thing that we aren't around there right now, Erin, isn't it?" He wrapped his arm around her waist and led her inside the cabin.

By morning she woke up sore but smiling. It was good to not hate him anymore. So very good for her body, heart and soul.

_(We built it up_

_to watch it fall_

_like it meant nothing at all._

_xxxxxx_

_I gave and gave the best of me_

_but couldn't give you what you need._

_xxxxxxx_

_You walked away._

_You stole my life_

_just to find what you're looking for._

_xxxxxxxx_

_But no matter how I try_

_I can't hate you anymore) (Nick Lachey)_

**THE END**

**Note- Dave broke up with Erin after she refused to leave her husband and marry him. She wanted the affair to keep going but he wanted more so they parted on bad terms, just in case the way it went down wasn't clear in the fic.**


	10. Always Wanted To, JJ and Derek

_This is pitch hit for Chit Chat on Author's Corner New Year Eve Challenge. It also marks my first time writing this pairing, as I usually only like Derek with Penelope but its nice to sometimes try new things. This story is about their friendship or, if you would rather think of it this way, a pre-romance story._

_This story takes place before Reid, Penelope, Emily or Elle worked in the BAU. It is when the team that died in February 2005 is still at the BAU (before the series started some of the BAU agents were killed when on a case with Gideon, per canon history)._

****

Always Wanted To

Derek and JJ

December 2002

"You and me," Derek said, a big smile on his face as he leaned against the desk at the police station "Times Square. What do you say? And before you say you're too tired, New Year's Eve only comes once-"

"I'm too tired."

He shook his head at her, knowing she was joking with him, and went on "Once a year! And we gotta do it up right. Come on." Then his bottom lip shot out. "Please."

"Everyone else turned you down, huh?"

Busted. "Wimps. All wimps. But you can handle a little cold, can't you?" He made his hands into a begging motion and dragged out her nickname "Jayje, I've always wanted to be in Times Square at midnight on New Year's Eve and since the case is done its like its meant to be."

She was packing up her stuff into a briefcase. "So go. I'm sure you'll find some holiday honey," she teased him about being a player "to keep you company."

He winked at her. "Oh, you betcha I could but I'd rather have you. I don't gotta put no effort into impressing you."

"Gee, thanks," she snarked.

He slung an arm around her shoulder. "So what do you wanna do instead? Go back to your hotel room and crash? Boring! Were you this boring in college?"

"I will have you know I practically minored in beer pong."

"You? I don't see it."

"What? I'm fun!"

He arched an eyebrow at her. Though she knew he was working her she still felt herself getting riled up, wanting to prove that she was indeed fun.

She said "And I can kick your ass in darts too!"

"Ha. Okay. If you say so. You seem like more the stay home and knit type to me."

"I've never knitted a day in my life."

"You can start tonight when you're in your hotel room all alone on the most fun night of the year."

Just then a team member came by and said that they were all going to a bar. JJ gave Morgan a look that said "Ha, you see, I could go to a bar and have fun and be warm and leave you to your own devices out in the cold in Times Square."

He got a look in his eye that said he knew he was beat. "All right, the bar it is then," Morgan said, a little disheartened.

JJ told the team member "When are we ever gonna be in New York again on New Year's Eve? You go to the bar if you want but Morgan and I are hitting Times Square."

Morgan let out a whoop of happiness, as exuberant as a child. By the time they made it downtown it was just ten minutes to midnight. They got out of the cab, walked a couple of blocks and found themselves in a crush of people.

JJ jumped to try and see over their heads. "I can't even see the ball from here! A building is blocking it."

"Come on." Morgan took her hand in his and they slipped through the crowd till they got closer to the epic center of the action. They laughed and giggled over all the crazy people they saw along their way- dressed in odd outfits, or with strange hair do, some couples fighting or making out, people speaking every language under the sun, and a variety of other odd things that you could only see in New York City.

"Ten!" the crowd yelled.

JJ and Derek were surrounded on every side by people. Just then a group of college girls noticed him and said hello. He started to flirt with them, asking "Who wants to be my midnight kiss honey?"

"Five!" the crowd was now on.

One of the women who was flirting with Derek said she'd love to be his midnight kiss. JJ rolled her eyes at them. Derek was known for this kind of crazy behavoir whenever he got around a group of females.

JJ reveled in the fun of this spontaneous adventure.

"One!" the crowd yelled, JJ yelling her lungs out with them. "Happy New Year!"

Suddenly little strips of white paper were falling out of the sky- makeshift confetti being flung from the tall buildings overhead. It added to the magical feeling. JJ watched as Derek gave the strange woman an outrageously wet kiss, wrapping his arms around her and tipping her backwards.

JJ shook her head at the sight of them. He was such a player! But she loved him anyway. They were the two youngest members of the team and they always had each other's back, even if they fought like siblings sometimes.

She smacked his back. "Okay, cassonova, enough!" she teased.

He let the woman go and gave her a big wink. After wiping his mouth he turned to JJ, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Thank you for coming here with me. I owe you one."

"This is a once in a lifetime thing. I'll never forget this."

He smiled as he leaned over and kissed her cheek, softly and tenderly, his eyes saying he'd never forget it either.

THE END


	11. You Make Me Smile, JJ and Hotch

**Note**-this was written for Chit Chat on Author Corner's March Madness Challenge. The prompt was JJ/Hotch, Highway to Heaven. There is a small mention of a spoiler in this one shot.

**You Make Me Smile**

**JJ and Hotch**

**April 2011**

It was hard to even look them in their eyes for him. He had spent a lifetime rarely showing the full depth of his emotions, meaning he had plenty of practice in hiding his true feelings from the world. But even after years of seeing and experiencing an array of horrors in his life, horrors he fought from ever showing anyone how they affected him, Aaron Hotchner still wasn't fully prepared to live this day-to-day masquerade.

It left him with a bone weary tiredness that just didn't go away.

Standing outside of the office building on that warm, spring day he stifled a sigh, his jaw clenched tight and suggested to the rest of them "Coffee?"

But no one was in the mood after going through the grief counseling session. One by one the majority of them made their apologies and then turned to wander off toward the parking lot, finally leaving only JJ standing there.

When they were out of ear shot she said "I feel like such a fraud."

"Its not about what we feel. Its about what had to be done." There was a long moment of silence, as he stared at the passing traffic, before he turned and looked at her. Seeing the fatigue on her face, the bags around her eyes, the weariness in her that was in all of them these days, Hotch softened. "That offer for coffee is still on the table."

She motioned to a shop across the street and down a ways, and they started to walk there. JJ said "I think I'll get mine to go. Since I have a rare day off, when I really should go do paperwork or clean my closets or something useful, I think I'll take a drive out to the beach. Henry is with Will today anyway so its not like anyone will miss me at home."

"If you ever need someone to talk to about the split-"

"It was a long time coming but thanks, Hotch."

They went into the coffee shop, ordered and after they had their drinks they headed back outside. JJ asked "So what's on your agenda for the rest of the day then?"

"I really should work on this year's budget. I have to decide where another ten percent can be cut even though I cut twenty last year."

She smirked. "Can't you think of anything you'd rather do?" Raising her eyebrows and slightly shaking her ice coffee drink she silently insinuated that he should join her at the beach.

Though he had a lot of paperwork to catch up on the idea of going back to that office felt like a cold, cruel death sentence at the moment. With a small smile he agreed to join JJ on her drive.

They took the scenic route to the ocean, driving along a twisty highway, with the radio playing rock and rock songs from the eighties. Neither laughed, talked or even smiled much but it was still nice to be there, enjoying the day in a way they never had gotten the chance to before, at least not together, and probably never would again.

JJ was the only person it was easy to be around right now. The only one he didn't have to hide anything from or feel guilty for lying to. Hotch knew this whole situation was not about him and he had no right to complain about how hard it was on him. He had never expected it to be an easy secret to keep. Still it sat on his chest like a boulder that got heavier with every passing second.

Only now, as they left Quantico behind, did he start to feel, if only for a moment, he was free. Later they sat at an outdoor cafe, drinking sweet tea and eating stone crabs, catching up on all the things that had changed in both their lives since she had taken a job for the State Department.

For just a few hours they were both able to let go of their pain, guilt, anger at Ian Doyle and Emily Prentiss (who didn't exist anymore anyway). Those hours were brief, a fleeting time to feel like someone else for both JJ and Hotch.

When she dropped him back at the parking lot, to get his car, later that evening he said "Thank you for a lovely day."

"We should do it again some time. We could bring the kids. Henry is a little scared of the water but maybe now that he's older this year he'll take to it better."

Though Hotch doubted they'd ever find the time for a perfect day like that he gave her a small smile (why was it that this man who rarely smiles, smiles most for her? It was something he should think about but he wasn't sure he was ready to face the answer.)

Hotch told JJ "I'd like that a lot."

And he would. He always liked spending time with her. There just never seemed to be enough time for relaxing with his good friend. Like there was very rarely anything in their lives to smile about, except for their boys.

But she made him smile. She always had. So if she called him for another day at the beach, Hotch would put aside his paperwork and make the time to go. God knows, he could use more chances to smile in his life.

THE END


	12. Broken Frat Rules, JJ and Rossi

_Note- JJ never committed to Will, as far as this story goes._

_This story is dedicated to Ilovetvalot._

**Broken Frat Rules**

**JJ and Rossi**

**Set in Season Three**

She had all the luck. Really, she did. In one night she had not only managed to blow apart her personal life but also sent her career swirling straight down the toilet.

And all because of one Italian stallion whose ego was too big for his britches. Why did she have to try to beat him at his own game? Why couldn't she just had done what she was so good at- what she had been doing since she left college- and ignore the attraction she felt?

She was good at keeping herself closed off from anything too messy. Yet she had still managed for years to have a pretty great life anyway. Just a great life without big time complications with men.

It wasn't like JJ was some kind of nun before that night. Hell no. Nuns didn't wear crotchless panties under their no- nonsense slacks. Nuns didn't strap on guns and shoot unsubs. Nuns didn't flirt in bars with strange men while playing darts.

Nuns didn't have one night stands. And JJ had done all those things in her life. But usually she could have her fun and walk away clean.

Not this time, apparently. This time she had really done it. And sooner or later, whether she liked it or not, and she did not like it one bit, the whole team was going to know just what she had done.

Her whole family would know. Her bosses would know.

But first he had to know. That annoying lothario who had been stuck in her brain for weeks. Who was she kidding? For months...years. Ever since that time she saw him give a lecture back when she was in college, David Rossi had been the man who Jennifer Jareau sculpted her sexual fantasies around.

She should have left them just fantasies though because now that she had crossed the line, there was no crossing back. No pretending it had never happened.

He had left her with the undeniable proof that it very much had.

XXXXXXXX

Six weeks earlier

"Like what you see?" Rossi asked JJ, as he sidled up next to her at the big bay window in his home.

She turned her attention away from the picturesque view. "Depends on what you are referring to."

"Touche. Either."

"The woods are beautiful," and _so are you_, she silently added, before reminding herself to break eye contact with him and ignore the shivers of awareness spreading through her at his nearness.

He had the team over for some bonding. Being the new guy, he felt like he needed to break down some of their walls. And, good God, did this bunch have walls.

JJ knew that. She knew they weren't as easy to actually work with as they made it look. Morgan didn't trust hardly anyone about hardly anything. Reid trusted too easily and so when that trust was broken he felt burned. Hotch kept everything under his hat. Prentiss compartmentalized so no one could really tell what she was truly feeling half the time.

And Garcia just let it all out- and JJ did mean all. She was a whirlwind of colors, emotions and nicknames. They all loved her for her sweetness and flashy personality but it really just was a front to hide her secrets, her fears, her insecurities.

They were hard nuts to crack. Rossi was still trying to ease his way into their tight knit bunch.

Hotch and JJ were the only ones who had a personal history with the man. Not that Rossi remembered how JJ sat in on a lecture he did back when she was in college. How turned on she had been watching him. How much he played a role in her fantasies for years afterwards.

Everyone knew he was a player, though. Even if he had known her name back then or about the fantasies that still haunted her now she would be just one of many to him.

Professionally, she lapped up every word he said with a spoon. The man was the world's most well known expert on profiling. So she'd be a fool to not respect his knowledge.

But personally she found herself a little ticked off and a lot flustered around him. He thought himself to be such a stud and that annoyed her.

He thought he could have any woman he wanted any time he wanted her. Well, not her. She'd be the one woman who he never had a chance in hell to get between his sheets.

JJ would just ignore the chemical reaction she had to him- how her whole body purred when he was near. In time, she was sure that would fade. For now she just needed to be strong.

Ignore his deep, dark eyes. Ignore his devilish smile. Ignore her fantasies. His jokes, his husky, knowing laugh. Ignore, ignore, ignore.

He asked her "Would you like another glass of wine?"

Foolishly she had accepted and by the time the rest of the team was leaving she was so tipsy she said "I think I'll stay for just one more piece of cake."

As soon as the door closed behind the team she threw herself on Rossi, taking his lips in a kiss filled with more than a decade of pent up lust. In the back of her mind she knew she had made a rule about not doing this very thing but she had been good for months already- four long months of torture working with him and not touching him.

Tonight she would be bad.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Bella. Bella. Bella," that term was what JJ remembered most about that night. The way he whispered it against her skin- her ear, her throat, her stomach, her thighs. "Bella. Bella. Bella."

In her dreams that word reverberated as she imagined his hands stroking over her, his body stroking into her, them coming together over and over, not just that one frantic time before she grabbed her clothes and called a cab, giving him a look that said "We'll never talk about this again."

And they hadn't.

But it was still there between them every time they glanced at each other. Their secret that wouldn't be secret for much longer.

Grabbing the piece of paper off her desk, mad at herself and him, JJ marched to Rossi's office and primly knocked on the door.

"Yeah," he called out and when she came inside he asked "What can I do for you?"

She tossed the piece of paper on his desk. "Its what you already did to me that's the issue now."

He glanced at it and his eyes bulged. Once he recovered he took in her glowering expression. "This is somehow my fault alone, I take it?"

"Did you just say fault?"

"You're shooting daggers at me like I did something wrong." He stood up and came around his desk. "If sleeping with a gorgeous woman is wrong, I don't wanna be right."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? How can you be so glib?"

"Give me a moment. I'm still digesting the news. What I do know is that this is the first time we've gotten to talk about that night- the first time you have allowed it, cause lets face it, bella, the ball is all in your court- so I wouldn't mind taking a minute or two to get a few things straight."

He captured her wrist in his grasp. She burned under his touch.

Rossi said "I didn't appreciate you running out like I was just a mistake you made. That kind of thing could bruise a man's ego. Lucky for you that mine is healthy enough to take it. Besides, I figure your reaction was less about what had happened...cause we both know that was phenomenal...or how you feel about me...cause there is something here neither of us can deny...and more about you not looking to open yourself up to a man right now."

"Not just right now. Not just you. Anyone. But now that's blown to hell."

"A child together doesn't mean we have to give in to this thing between us ever again...but we will...in time we will...when you figure out that I'm not just any man and this chemistry we have is not something either of us can spend the rest of our lives ignoring."

"I'm not here to be seduced-"

"Believe me, if I was seducing you, you'd be out of those crotchless panties you favor by now."

Her face got hot. "I can't believe that I'm having your baby."

A slow grin came to his face. "I couldn't think of a nicer woman to do so. And this might just force you to let someone in now. I hope the someone you choose will be me but I've been around the block enough to know that I'll have to work for your trust and to make you believe that if you're gonna be involved with anyone then it should be me."

"How can you be so calm about the fact that I'm pregnant and still be standing there talking and thinking about sex?"

"Sex? I'm talking and thinking about a lot more than that. And calm? Well...it doesn't pay for a man to lose his head. Besides, I've always wanted kids."

"UGH! Well I didn't!"

"Should have mentioned that earlier, I guess."

"And you should have a condom laminated to yourself to avoid things like this!"

"I usually do use one but that night...you...you were too raw to let anything come between us. You were worth the risk. I regret nothing."

Feeling herself falling under his spell, JJ started to lean closer to Dave. He raised his hand and gently caressed her face. Her heart was in her throat as his lips neared hers. At the last moment she jerked back, yanked the paper she had brought with her off his desk and then headed for the door.

"Please refrain from spreading this around just yet. I need time...time to come to terms with this."

"I will give you all the time in the world, bella."

Bella. Bella. Bella. She'd be hearing that nickname in her dreams and fantasies till her dying breath. The only question is would she also be hearing it ever again out of his lips when they were skin to skin?

And how would she cope with having this maddening lotherio's baby? What made him think she was so different? Or was that just a line he told everyone?

_I've always wanted to have kids_, he had said. Somehow that was the one thing that actually gave her some measure of peace.

He wanted this baby. Now it was time for JJ to come to terms with her pregnancy and join Dave in wanting this child...and maybe join him one day in believing that it was all right to break some more frat rules and want each other.

THE END


End file.
